The Age of Miracles
by Ellyn92
Summary: HYDRA's planning to start 'The Age of Miracles', but the Avengers won't let that happen. They need to assemble once again, but that's easier said than done. Will they overcome their personal struggles and differences? And what will they do if another age is dawning as well - the Age of Ultron? Continuation of my one-shot 'Where do we go from here'
1. Assemble?

"I knew you couldn't live without me," Stark shouted at his phone when he heard Natasha Romanoffs voice for the first time in weeks. "But, and I am truly sorry, I already found a secretary, so I can't offer you the job."

"I don't want a job, did you even listen to me? I want to meet you," Natasha sounded irritated.

"You want a date? Sure, but I already have a girlfriend. And I don't do polygamy," Stark replied, while rummaging through the documents on his desk.

"Grow up, Stark, I need you… and I am not going to repeat that," Natasha barked, and Tony could sense the angry tingle in her voice.

"Fine, fine, polygamy it is. So, do prefer a fancy restaurant, or will we stick with shawarma?" he said.

"Paparazzi-free environment would do. How about your place?"

"Now you crossed the line, inviting yourself in isn't allowed before we've publically announced our relationship. Unless you're called Pepper, and you're not, inviting yourself is off limits." Tony smirked, enjoying the fact that he was annoying Natasha to death. When she growled in response, he decided that it had been enough.

"You can visit anytime you want, but I can't promise a paparazzi-free environment. Although I believe you can find something to solve that problem. When will I be expecting you?"

"Sooner than you wish," Natasha said before she hung up. Tony stared at his phone in bewilderment. After two years, he still hadn't figured out who the Black Widow really was and what she wanted.

"I must say it was very impolite of you to talk to Agent Romanof like that, sir," JARVIS remarked.

"I must say it is very impolite of you to make a remark like that. And she is not an agent anymore."

"My sincere apologies, sir."

"Apology accepted."

"Sir?"

"Yes?"

"I must inform you that someone is …" the AI began, but he was interrupted by a loud explosion coming from the ground floor.

"Holy shit, JARVIS, what happened!?"

"I believe we have a visitor."

"Romanoff is going to pay for that!"

"It's not agent Romanoff, sir!"

"She's not an agent anymore JARVIS, how many times do I have to repeat that? She's just Romanoff from now on. Who is it?"

"I can't really make any sense of this midgardian technology," a voice boomed from below.

"Never mind I asked," Tony sighed as he headed downstairs. He found Thor at the entrance hall. The front door lay at his feet and was still smoking.

"They don't sell 'guides to Midgard' on that planet of yours do they? It's not a habit of ours to smash each-others door to pieces," Tony snarled as he kicked aside the remains of his intercom.

"Please forgive me, Man of Iron, as I did not intend to destroy your property. Lady Natasha told me a firm knock with my hammer would open your door for me. She said it was a pretty heavy specimen." Thor looked down at the remains of Tony's door and added: "But perhaps I misunderstood."

"'Lady Natasha' you said? She called you too? She really is into polygamy, isn't she?"

"I have never heard of such thing, but yes, she contacted me on the strange midgardian thing they call 'Jane's smartphone'," Thor answered absently, as he was taking in the environment. "This house of yours is nice. Do all humans build houses as large as their ego's?" Thor demanded. Tony's jaw dropped, not because of the insult, but because he never heard Thor crack a joke before. "Nice one, Blondie, let's go upstairs." Thor looked confused, not really knowing what he did to startle Tony and followed him to the elevator. While they were going up, Thor remarked solemnly: "You know, we have things like this in Asgard as well. I like them better, more colorful and everything, faster as well. Maybe you should get one too?"

"Or maybe I don't. Asgardian is so old-fashioned and – never mind. Speaking about old-fashioned. Did you hear anything from Steve lately?" Tony asked as the elevator reached the top floor and the doors opened.

Thor shook his head: "No, I haven't seen anyone after I left Midgard with Loki." Something about the Asgardians tone when he mentioned his brother, bothered Tony. But he had no time to ask about it, because he spotted a blond woman who was sitting in his sofa. Immediately, Tony started to laugh.

"Good evening Thor, Stark," Natasha greeted them.

"Well hey there Barbie, planning to go incognito as Paris Hilton? The blond really doesn't suit you," Tony doubled with laughter.

"Don't be such a child. Oh and Thor, thanks for the distraction."

For the second time in less than ten minutes, Thor looked like he had no clue of what the other person was talking about.

"I suggest you sit down, we have a lot to discuss. Doctor Banner and the Captain will be arriving soon," Natasha said, smiling apologetically at Thor and still ignoring Tony.

"Hey, why do you refer to them with those fancy titles, and I got nothing more than "Stark" "? Tony protested.

"Because they deserve 'respect', you know what that means? Perhaps you should ask your AI to explain it to you. I still don't understand how you were able to create a robot that's more polite and well-behaved than you are," Natasha replied coldly.

"Tony?" a worried voice came from the elevator, "Tony, someone molested the back door and you'll never guess who I –" Peppers voice died the moment she laid eyes on Natasha and Thor."Ow." She was accompanied by none other than Steve Rogers and Bruce Banner, the latter of whom looked exhausted.

Steve greeted all of them politely, although he looked like he didn't understand why all of them where there at the same place. Banner plumped down in the nearest seat and addressed Natasha: "You better have a good reason to make me fly all the way to New York at this hour."

"You're lucky doc, I'll give you three reasons," she said , while indicating the others to sit down. Pepper hesitated, but one look from Natasha told her she could join them as well.

"So," Natasha started, but she was interrupted, to no one's surprise, by Tony.

"Wait, wait, wait, I am missing something. You are assembling our superhero boyband but you forgot to invite your (he pointed at Natasha) dance partner. What happened? Did he finally tell you that you're a pain in his ass?" Pepper looked like she would have thrown something at Tony if she had the chance, but Natasha chose to ignore him.

"So, I called all of you because we need to discuss something. I believe it would be something that interests all of you, especially –"

"Are you deaf? I asked you a question."

"I am sorry to hear that you left all your manners behind in space when you flew through that wormhole, Stark," Natasha snapped without looking at Tony before she continued, "I thought this might be especially interesting for you, Captain, as it is about someone you might know."

"Natasha, maybe you should…" Steve began, eying at Tony. But the Widow continued imperturbable: "A remaining group of HYDRA soldiers has been discovered in Kazachstan. They are led by a man who's referred to as 'Baron Von Strucker'. As far as I know, SHIELD didn't have any data on him, perhaps they erased it. I hoped you would be able to fill me in, Cap."

"That name is not really familiar with me at all," Steve replied, "I only remember seeing it on a list of supposed HYDRA suspects in de 1940's. But he must be really old by now, so I don't see how he can do a lot of harm."

"Old minds can be great minds," a sleepy Banner pointed out, "But I've heard that HYDRA's days are over. It's been all over the news…"

Steve sighed: "I share your disappointment, Doctor, but this doesn't surprise me. When you cut one head of –"

"Two more grow in its place, yes, yes, we know that, but will somebody tell me –" Tony received a blow to the head from Pepper. "What?" Pepper gave him a meaningful look. "I am sorry, truly, but I don't like being kept in the dark!" Tony complained.

"Well, I am explaining –" Natasha started, but Tony cut her off again. "No, you aren't, you are doing a Fury-impersonation. You call me in the middle of the night, you show up on my doorstep almost immediately afterwards, barking orders and I can't ask you why? And – correct me if I am wrong – I am not the only one who would like to know why you've traded your beloved partner in crime for some blond Barbie-locks?"

Banner leaned forward and yawned: "He does have a point there."

Natasha's face turned as red as her hair used to be: "If you let me finish my – as you call it – Fury-impersonation, you might get an answer to your question. If you still have questions after I am done, you're free to ask." She shot a frightening look at Tony and suddenly turned around to pick up a backpack. She handed it over to Tony and spat at him: "Or, by a second thought, you can read it yourself. At least the file inside that backpack can't get annoyed by you." Natasha sat down besides Steve, crossed her legs and fixed her eyes on Tony. If gazes could kill, he would have been dead by now.

"Midgardian women have bad tempers," Thor whispered. That remark earned him an angry look from Natasha. Tony took the file out of the bag and spread its contents on the table. Both Steve and Thor scratched their heads when they saw the complex markings on several of the sheets of paper, but Banners interest was drawn. He picked one particularly interesting page and started to read. Now and then, he frowned or made confused noises. Tony stood up and went to stand behind Banner, in order to read over his shoulder. When both were done reading, Banner removed his glasses, placed them on the table and rubbed his eyes.

"You found two people with inhuman powers in Kazachstan," he declared.

Natasha nodded: "Their names are Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, but that's about all we know. They are twins and probably born in Eastern Europe. Pietro is able to run really fast, his speed is inhuman. Wanda's powers include a variety of things, she can move things without touching them, she can make sparks appear out of nowhere – but apparently no one knows the true nature of her powers."

"Hold on," Thor suddenly remarked as he grabbed a sheet of paper from the table and held it up in the air, so everyone could see it. "This is my brothers, did you find this as well?" he demanded.

"I'm afraid we did. HYDRA snatched it away under our noses. The weapon was kept at a SHIELD base, and as far as I know, nobody reported that it was stolen. Probably the work of infiltrators," Natasha sighed.

"Before Fury left, he told me he would be heading for Eastern Europe. Maybe this is what he is looking for," Steve began slowly, "Was he the one who gave you this information?"

"No," Natasha's voice was filled with doubt.

"He didn't tell you about that?" Steve asked, clearly surprised.

"Not really, no. I wonder…" Natasha paused. When she spoke again, she sounded a bit uncertain: "Maybe we should talk about this tomorrow. It's already late."

"I thought this was urgent?" Tony remarked.

"It is, but I have to clear my mind before we talk more about this. Can I use one of your guest rooms?" she looked at Pepper.

"Sure," Pepper replied a bit confused, "You can follow me."

"Fine, good night boys," Natasha left alongside Pepper.

"I guess you hit a nerve," Bruce whispered to Steve. Steve sighed: "I am afraid I did."

**Hey everyone,**

**First of all thanks for reading. If you liked this, maybe you should read my one shot 'Where do we go from here?', which serves as the set up for this story. I also want to thank Caitlin Sidhe and wispoD for encouraging me to continue the story. **

**I hope you liked it!**

**Hugs and kisses,**

**Ellyn**


	2. Pep-talk

Pepper found Natasha at the window of her room, while she was overlooking the city. She was sunken in thoughts and did not react to Peppers arrival, although Pepper knew for certain that the Black Widow had heard her coming.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I forgot to give you these," Pepper said as she reached Natasha. She handed her a pair of keys. "These are the keys to your floor," Pepper explained.

"My floor?" Natasha remarked.

"Tony needed a new hobby. He designed this tower for you guys. Just in case you'd ever need a headquarters – he let his imagination run wild. This floor is designed for you," Pepper told Natasha.

"That's nice of him," Natasha replied.

"Maybe you should tell him that," Pepper advised her, "You know –"

"I don't need a speech in which you tell me that we are so much alike and that I should be nicer to him," Natasha interrupted.

"I wasn't going to say that," Pepper said calmly, "and for your information, I am not under the impression that you and Tony are alike."

"That's a relief."

"I know - Tony can be a jerk sometimes. But what would you say when I told you that he threw his arch reactor in the ocean and swore to get rid of his suits?"

"I wouldn't believe you," Natasha looked at Pepper for the first time, "But by the sound of your voice, I understand that he actually did that." Pepper nodded.

"So," Natasha had a mischievous grin, "how long did it take before he broke that promise?"

"A month, maybe two. He really tried to change, for me. But even I could see that he'll always be Iron Man. Tony isn't Tony without his suits. So when he started to tinker again, I let him. I can't change him, although he is a jerk and can be a pain in the ass and does stupid things from the moment he flies away in that suit of his. But that's Tony, and I wouldn't love him any other way. It took me a while to realize that."

"Why are you telling me this?" Natasha asked.

"Because I want you to know that it's okay to be worried. I was too, every time he left, I wondered if he would come back. But some things never change. Tony is one of them. And I guess Clint is too."

"How do you know that this has anything to do with Clint?" Natasha didn't sound surprised at all.

"I am a woman, does that count for an explanation?" Pepper smiled, "Ever since I met you – the real you, not Natalie Rushman – you've seemed so inhuman. But in some brief moments, I can recognize myself in you. When Tony mentioned Clint earlier, I could see it in your eyes. You're worried, although you're doing a very good job at hiding it. I don't know what's going on, but if you want to talk about it, you can always talk to me."

Natasha remained silent and kept gazing at the New York skyline. After a while, Pepper started to feel awkward and silently wondered if she'd crossed the line by mentioning Clint.

"I guess I'll leave you on your own then. Goodnight," Pepper said carefully. Again, Natasha didn't say anything. When Pepper closed the door behind her, she hoped that Natasha'd call her and say 'thank you' - or at least that she would say something. But it didn't happen.

**Alright, this was a bit short, but the next chapter will be longer. I've already written it and I can tell you it will be about what Clint has been up to. Thank you to everyone who's been following, reviewing or who has favorited the story! I know it might sound old, but I apologize for any mistakes I made (grammar and vocabulary). As you might know, I am not a native speaker and although I try really hard not to make any mistakes, I still do. If something bothers you, you can always tell me! I do not have a beta anymore, and I am trying to write without one this time. It things get too bad, just tell me, and I'll look for a new Beta. **

**Anyway, enjoy the story! **

**Ellyn**


	3. A girl called Wanda

Clint really started to believe that Lady Bad-Luck loved him a little bit too much. A week after he'd send Natasha away with the promise that he would be fine, things changed for the worst. Someone apparently broke through the surveillance system of the HYDRA facility – the one where they were keeping the Maximoff twins. After that dreadful moment, Clint had been assigned to stay at the facility in order to enhance the security system by installing some kind of booby traps, in case anyone wanted to break in. He was also responsible for a young programmer, who would rewrite the security program of HYDRA's computers.

Not only would those recent developments make Clint's mission to break the twins out more difficult, it would probably get him exposed as well. He didn't have any moment of privacy anymore and because of that, he'd grown afraid that he would soon break cover. And on top of that, although he didn't like to admit it, being around Loki's scepter made him feel very uncomfortable as well. Most of all, he wanted to take the damned thing and get rid of it. But of course, that wasn't an option. All Clint could do was hope that Natasha would contact him soon, so he could get out of there. It was getting warm underneath his feet and he didn't like anything about it.

"Hey, hey, come over here," the programmer suddenly barked at him. Clint sighed. It was probably the third time this night the man called him over to tell him he had a 'lead' on the hacking of the system. Clint had explained to him many times that he was just a weapon expert, not a security guard, but the guy had wanted to share his findings anyways. His previous interruptions had been nothing to worry about, and Clint silently hoped that the lead he found this time would turn out to be a dead end once again.

"What is it?" Clint shouted, because he had to outvote the noises coming from the right corner of the room. Pietro Maximoff had been running up and down his cell ever since Clint first met him a month ago. Clint still wondered how he could keep it up like that.

"I found something on the security tapes," the programmer said. Clint gave him an angry look: "We pay you to enhance a security system, not to watch videotapes."

"I know, man, chill out. I needed a break, so I decided to do something else. The bosses won't be angry, because look what I found."

If he hadn't heard that himself, Clint would have never believed that HYDRA'd let morons like that guy work for them, but when he stared at the screen of the man's laptop, his heart skipped a beat or two. It was nearly impossible to spot, but apparently, this programmer-dude had eyes like a hawk – just like Clint's. In the corner of the picture on the screen was standing a black man, hidden in the shadows. He was almost unrecognizable, but Clint had the feeling he knew exactly who that was.

"So," Clint tried to stay calm, "that man is standing next to the fences at exit B. Maybe he's smoking a cigarette. Or perhaps it's a drugs dealer who's waiting for a client. I don't see how he is 'a lead'."

"This footage is from last night. I found him very suspicious, so I checked other videotapes –"

Clint interrupted him harshly: "How long have you even been looking at this tapes while I was busy?"

The man did not show any sign of guilt when he told Clint he had been doing it all day. Clint blamed himself for not noticing anything about it, but then again, he had been busy himself by slowing down the enhancement of the security system as much as possible without being noticed – he didn't have the time to supervise annoying newbies.

"I noticed this guy on another tape as well, but this time near another exit." The programmer switched screens on his computer and showed Clint yet another picture of the black man. Clint would have sworn heartedly if he could, but he kept his composure. He didn't understand how that man could have been so uncareful.

"It doesn't mean anything, it isn't forbidden to come near this building. We are situated in the middle of a small town, you idiot. It's normal that people come near the building. The bosses won't find this interesting at all. I should drop it if I were you," Clint advised the man. But the latter didn't let himself get brushed of that easily.

"I believe that this man is the one who hacked our system!" he stated firmly.

"I don't, it's just someone _passing by_. And – in case you forgot - I am still your superior. So I suggest you go back to work and drop this. For God's sake man, if they find out that you stopped programming and watched security tapes instead, Von Strucker will kill you."

Clint bend over, closed the screens on the man's computer and sat down on top of the programmers desk. "So, hurry up and do your job, and let me do mine. We don't have all year to fix this mess and I still have a lot of weapons to install. I would like to see my own bed again before new year," he snarled. His colleague gave him a sour face, but – to Clint's relief – continued his work. Clint stood up and walked over to his own desk, where he immediately grabbed his chair and put it on the other side of the table, so he could keep an eye on the other man. He turned his laptop around and loaded a blueprint of an automatic gun.

While his computer was busy, he glanced sideways. Pietro was still bouncing around like a lunatic, but for once, Wanda wasn't doing anything special. Instead, she was looking at Clint. He really wanted to say something to her, but he knew he couldn't. He averted his gaze, but he could still feel Wanda's eyes burn on him. After ten minutes, he couldn't resist the urge to look at her any longer. He turned his head again and met her eyes. He was surprised to see that she was smiling at him. As far as he remembered, Wanda never smiled at anyone before. She put her index finger against her lips and pointed at the desk of the other man with her other index finger. Clint didn't understand what she wanted, but he looked in the direction she was pointing at. The other guy had fallen asleep, or was doing a very good job at pretending to snore. Clint looked back at Wanda and smiled at her as well. He wondered if it was possible that she knew who Clint really was. Wanda pointed at the pile of papers on Clint's desk and then to herself. When Clint gave her a confused look, she pretended to write something in the air, and Clint understood. He picked a ballpoint pen and a sheet of paper, made sure the other guy was still sleeping and headed to Wanda's cell. Next to her, Pietro was still bouncing around, but – if Clint wasn't mistaken – his speed had decreased a little. Clint slid the piece of paper trough the bars of her cell, along with the pen. Wanda took them with a nod and started to write. It took long, very long, and Clint started to get a little nervous. If someone entered the room and found them like that, he would have a hard time explaining what he'd been doing. But Clint felt like it was a risk worth taking. He turned his back on Wanda so he could watch his colleague and the door.

Wanda coughed once when she was done writing. She shoved the paper back to Clint, and when he reached out to pick it up, his hand touched hers for a second. Clint folded the paper and put it in his back pocket. He looked up at Wanda and opened his mouth to thank her, but to his surprise, her face had turned pale. Before he could move, Wanda's hand shot through the prison bars and wrapped around Clint's bare wrist. Her eyes filled with fear and worry. Clint started to become worried himself and struggled to get free, but Wanda bore her fingernails in his skin and whispered: "Wait." Clint quickly turned his head around, but there wasn't anyone coming yet. He noticed that it had become remarkably quit – Pietro didn't move anymore. He was staring Clint straight in the eye and looked rather angry.

"Wanda, you should let me go," Clint whispered rapidly, "If anyone finds out that I talked to you, I'm in trouble." Wanda shook her head and blinked twice before she looked at Clint again: "You must leave. They'll find out soon. You must leave. Now, before it's too late. South Africa, you need to be there. Don't forget to be there." She let Clint go and waved her hand towards the door of the room: "Go!"

Clint never took advice of strangers before, but this time, he had the feeling he should listen. Without thinking about it, he poured his cup of water over his laptop and smashed its screen. It might not destroy every evidence about what he'd been up to, but he didn't have time to do anything else. When he reached the door, he suddenly got an idea and walked over to his still sleeping colleague. It had been too easy. Clint took his laptop and gave it to Wanda, along with his already damaged one.

"Do with them whatever you want, but destroy those before anyone comes in – I know you can do that. I hope it will not cause you too much trouble," he told her. He turned around, and in a moment of total madness, he took Loki's scepter from his standard and took it with him.

When he opened the door of the room, a thousand shivers went down his spine when Wanda shouted at his back: "It will."

**Hey there,**

**This is another chapter and I hope you guys are still liking things so far. Keep me posted if there is anything wrong with the story (plotwise, grammarwise, ...). I haven't read the comics so I am basing things on the characters wikipedia-entries (such as Scarlet Witches powers). I also don't watch Agents of SHIELD, so I don't take the plot of the series into account while writing the story =S **

**I also noticed that people often add 'disclaimers' to their stories. I don't know if that's obligated, but just to be sure:**

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters created by Marvel (is that ok?)**

**Anyway, enjoy reading and - I know I'm repeating myself - tell me if things get too bad =P**

**Warm hugs,**

**Ellyn**


	4. Problem alert

Because Bruce woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep, he decided that he'd head upstairs for a long breakfast. No one would be awake at this hour and that meant he could be on his own for a while. He was thus genuinely surprised to find Pepper Potts already seated at the dinner table.

"You rise early," Pepper remarked when Bruce entered the kitchen.

"Jetlag," Bruce yawned, "I couldn't sleep any longer."

"Me neither," Pepper sighed. Bruce sensed that she wanted to talk about something. Somehow, everyone seemed to believe that he is the perfect person to talk to when they have problems. Bruce always tried to listen to them – just to be nice. Up till now, no one noticed that he actually wasn't interested in their problems at all.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Bruce offered politely. Pepper looked relieved and immediately started to ramble about Natasha's cold behavior and attitude. Bruce ate at least four sandwiches with chocolate paste and drank two cups of coffee before she was finally done.

"Maybe you should leave her alone for a while," Bruce told Pepper wisely, "Some people like to deal with things on their own." Pepper snorted: "Tony does that all the time. And it doesn't work that well." Bruce shrugged: "It's Natasha's problem. She'll talk about it if she wants to. Just, don't force yourself upon her. Besides, she's not a talkative type, so I wouldn't be too worried if I were you." Pepper seemed a little offended, but didn't respond and just stared at her cup of coffee instead.

A welcoming silence fell and Bruce enjoyed it for a while. When his third cup of coffee was empty, he wanted to grab a newspaper, just like he usually did at mornings. But as there was no newspaper yet, he looked for something else instead. Almost instantly, Natasha's folder caught his eye – Tony'd left it behind in the sofa. Bruce opened it and started to read the things he hadn't read the day before. He was intrigued by the information about the twins and was dying to meet those two, but Natasha had yet to mention when they were going to look for them. Bruce also read the other files in the folder, but they weren't nearly as interesting. When he finished reading, he put the folder on the table and noticed that something had fallen on the ground. It was a paper not larger than a business card which contained a phone number. "This will only work once," was written above it in a sloppy handwriting.

"What did you find?" Pepper was looking in Bruce's direction. Before he could answer her, someone snatched the card from between his fingers. It was Natasha. To Bruce's surprise, her hair was once again shining red. How she managed to get her hands on hair dye overnight, was a mystery to him.

"It's a phone number," Natasha told Pepper with an uncharacteristically gentle smile. Bruce presumed that Natasha'd eavesdropped and that she was trying to make up for it.

"Oh," was all Pepper dared to say.

"It's Clints," Natasha added while she poured herself a glass of orange juice and sat down. Pepper didn't say a thing. Bruce frowned: "Why does the note say it will only work once?"

"Because it will only work once. I can call him once, and afterwards, the number won't work anymore," she explained, as if it was as obvious as 1 + 1 = 2.

"How's that even possible? Will his phone blow up after you call him?" Pepper asked carefully.

"I don't know, does it matter?"

"You sound like you find all of this pretty normal," Bruce remarked.

"It is, isn't it? It means that it's too dangerous to call the same number twice. I thought you were would have figured that out by yourself." Natasha picked a cookie out of the jar that stood in front of Pepper and sat down on the counter and started to eat.

"So, Pepper was right. This is all about Clint." Bruce waved his hand in the direction of the folder.

"Uhu." Natasha took another bite from her cookie.

"Is that everything you have to say about this?"

"Yes."

Bruce slowly began to understand why Pepper got so annoyed by the Widow's cold behavior.

"Listen, Natasha," Bruce explained to her in his calm voice, "It doesn't work this way. When you want us to trust you, we'll need more information. You can't expect us to blindly follow you to Kazachstan because you feel we have to."

Natasha raised an eyebrow and sighed. She carefully nipped of her orange juice before she said: "Fine."

"What do you mean with that?" Bruce asked her, but Natasha ignored him. Instead, she raised her head and spoke directly to JARVIS.

"JARVIS, will you wake the others for me please?"

"Yes, madam."

"Thank you."

She turned her head towards Bruce: "Just wait until the others are here. I don't want to explain everything twice."

* * *

Tony was absolutely not happy when JARVIS woke him up and became even more grumpy when the AI told him he'd done so because Romanoff asked him. By the time Tony reached the sofa in the communal living room, he had considered at least four times to throw Natasha out. She was lucky that he was too tired to do so.

Apparently, Bruce and Pepper had already been awake, and Steve and Thor did not seem bothered by the early hour. Tony had hoped that at least one of them would have shared his anger, so they could shoot angry glares at Natasha together. Because that wasn't the case, Tony decided that he would not make a scene, but just this once – he didn't need a second woman who believed she could boss him around.

"Please enlighten me, why did I need to leave my bed alone at this hour? It's missing me already," Tony snarled. Natasha, who was standing in front of the coffee table, looked at him. If he didn't know better, Tony would have sworn that she looked a bit sad.

"Maybe," she sighed, "Maybe I should apologize for yesterday."

Tony almost choked on his tea. Getting an apology out of Romanoff was a rare thing. He shared a look with Bruce, who did not look surprised. "This is not good," Steve whispered next to Tony. Tony agreed wholeheartedly – Natasha must have been feeling sick.

"I was a little distracted yesterday, " Natasha went on, "I wanted time to think things through, before I said another word."

"It might have been better to discuss things with us," Steve said, "We're your friends. You can trust us."

"I know, but I was confused about something you mentioned. I needed to figure out what it meant first. For myself," Natasha told them.

"The file I showed you, was given to me by Clint, …"

Natasha started to explain how she met Clint and what he told her about HYDRA and the twins during their brief encounter in Russia.

"Clint's been working for HYDRA all this time. He told me that he lost contact with SHIELD after the Winter Soldier attacked, even with Fury. Yesterday, when Steve mentioned that Fury told him that he was heading for Eastern Europe, I didn't understand. If that information is correct, Fury should be where Clint is. Or he should be able to contact him at least. But he didn't. I just can't understand why Fury let Clint down. On top of that, Fury told mé that he was heading for Germany. That's not exactly Eastern Europe, is it? So I figured that either Clint lied to me, Fury lied to me of Fury lied to the Captain."

"The odds of Fury lying are apparently higher," Tony counted on his fingers, "So, what do you think about this?"

"I am convinced that Clint didn't lie to me that night. So that means Fury lied to either me or the Captain."

"Why would he do that?" Steve wondered aloud.

"I don't know. I got some ideas, but none of which I'm sure. But he must have a good reason for it. Maybe he doesn't want us to know what he's up to."

"But you always seem to know when someone is lying to you," Thor remarked.

"Fury is one of the few people who can lie to me without letting it on," Natasha confessed.

"But why doesn't he want to be found? What's his play?" Tony asked, but he didn't get a response. It was obvious that Natasha had no idea, and that it was bothering her.

After a moment of silence, Steve asked: "What are you planning to do now?"

Natasha looked from Steve to the others and back: "I am going help Clint. He asked for my help, Fury didn't. If I cause trouble to whatever Fury is trying to do, that is his problem. He should have been honest with me. I'll be heading for Kazachstan as soon as I can, to get Clint out of the mess Fury put him in. And I hope you guys will join me."

"Of course," Steve and Thor said in unison.

"After the incident with Loki, I owe Barton a debt," Thor added.

Natasha smiled faintly and looked at Bruce and Tony: "Stark? Banner?"

Bruce sighed: "I'll see what I can do. But it's me that you're getting. Not the other guy. That's …"

"That's alright," Natasha interrupted quickly, "I don't need the other guy. I need you and your brains. Those twins are very special people, you'll need to study them. We'll have to find out about everything they are capable of."

Bruce nodded solemnly: "I can't deny that I am interested in them. I'll see what I can do for you."

Everyone turned around to look at Tony, who raised his hands.

"I don't have a suit anymore," Tony tapped his chest, "I am just 'regular man' now. You need my brains too?"

Pepper suddenly snorted: "Don't pretend to be so innocent. I know about the suits in the basement."

Tony groaned: "No, you don't."

"Yes, I do," Pepper retorted.

"You're not supposed to."

"I've been on to you for weeks, Tony Stark, and you know that. I always knew that you'd find a way to be Iron Man again. I guess I'm also not supposed to know about the prototypes you made for Captain America's shield and about the trick arrows you developed and … about several other things you've hidden down there."

"No, you don't, so just go back to pretending you don't know about any of that."

"Fine."

"I love you, Pep."

"Love you too."

Tony looked at the others: "Alright. The monkey is out of the bag. I guess I can't say no to you now, can I?" His question was answered my a smile from Steve.

"What do you intend to do?" Thor asked Natasha

"Do you still own a yet?" Natasha turned to Tony.

"Yes?"

"How long will it take to reach this location?" Natasha gave him the address of the HYDRA facility.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked, pointing at the address.

"About 10 hours, sir."

"There you go," Tony clapped his hands.

"That's all I need to know. I'll call Clint to tell him that you're in. He'll give us further information."

Natasha picked a cellphone out of her pocket.

"What, you're calling him right now?"

"Is that a problem? Clint asked to call as soon as I convinced you guys to come."

"Now did he?" Tony whispered scornfully.

Natasha picked the bussinesscard and dialed the number. She put the phone on speaker and laid it on the coffee table. The phone didn't even go over.

"This number is no longer in use. Please contact your provider for more information."

Natasha stared at the phone in horror. The others all looked bewildered, except for Thor.

"It there a problem?" he asked.

Natasha dialed the number again, but she got the same message as before.

"Something is wrong," she whispered.

**So, I haven't updated in a while... I couldn't get this chapter right. It still isn't a very good chapter, but it's just the kind of boring set up stuff for the rest of the story. I hope that my future chapters will be more entertaining. I actually wanted to upload this on friday, but the website refused to do so (I still don't know why). Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this a little bit - although it was rather boring. I already wrote the outline for the next chapter, and it will be more eventful as this one.**

**Bye for now,**

**Ellyn**


	5. Deja vu

Clint walked away from the office as fast as possible, but tried very hard not to be noticed. It was already late, so most of the corridors were abandoned, but now and then, he bumped into a HYDRA grunt. Fortunately for him, they all decided to ignore his presence. He was just an ordinary employee to them after all, and therefore not worthy of their attention - Clint was genuinely glad about that. For once, Clint was also happy that he was wearing a suit. His jacket was just long enough to hide Loki's scepter entirely underneath it.

So far, his escape had gone perfectly. When he nearly reached his car after only 10 minutes of walking, Clint felt like he was being too lucky. So when he was greeted by no one else than Baron Von Strucker himself when he opened the door to the underground garage, Clint felt anything but surprised.

"Good evening, sir," Clint attempted to sound calm, while praying that the Baron wouldn't notice that he was hiding the scepter. Apparently, he didn't, as the Baron simply nodded at him and asked: "Going home?" The suspicion in his voice didn't escape Clint. Of course, Clint couldn't admit that he was, as he was not supposed to leave the building before the security system was back on the rails/

"No, I wanted to grab my glasses. I left them in my car," Clint lied smoothly.

The Baron frowned slightly: "Do you wear glasses? I never noticed that…"

"I usually wear lenses, but I own some glasses because my eyes often get irritated," Clint told him. Luckily, he knew that inside the car he had been using – whuch was owned by one of his colleagues - was lying a pair of spare glasses.

"Ah, of course," the Baron laughed halfheartedly, "Anyway, now that you're here, I'll wait for you. There is something I want to discuss." Clint pretended to be curious, but inside, he was dying. 'Do they already know?' he wondered.

"Yeah, sure. I'll just grab my glasses first," Clint waved his hand in the direction of the car and walked away from the Baron. To his immense relief, the man did not follow him. Clint opened the door of the old Honda with a sigh, grabbed his colleagues glasses, readjusted Loki's scepter and reached for the gun that was hidden underneath the driver's seat. For a moment, Clint considered to kill the Baron, but he shook the idea away quickly. He wouldn't make it out alive if he did. Instead, he slid the gun in the holster hidden underneath his shirt and headed back to Von Strucker.

"You wanted to talk to me, sir?"

"Yes," Von Strucker said, "Walk with me, please?" He opened the door for Clint and indicated that they were heading back to the offices. Clint walked through the door, and when it closed behind him with a silent thud, Clint felt a twinge of regret because his chance at a peaceful escape was gone. Things probably weren't going to end well.

"So…" Clint looked at the Baron expectantly.

"I was wondering," the man said, "If you know this person?" The Baron reached for his pocket and revealed a picture. It was the same picture that the programmer had shown Clint earlier that night. Clint took it from the Baron and took a closer look at it.

"He seems familiar, but I don't know his name," Clint lied while he studied the picture, "Do I need to know him?"

"Perhaps you heard of him. He should be dead, or so I have heard. I wanted to ask you if you noticed him before. Someone saw him sneaking around the building a couple of days ago."

"I haven't left the building for more than a week, sir. So no, I haven't noticed him. Maybe he lives in the nearby town? I recognize his face, perhaps I crossed him on the street one day."

"Maybe," the Baron didn't sound convinced. The tension in the air rose and everything started to feel like one of those bad action movies to Clint. He more or less expected the Baron would shout 'I know thatyou are a traitor' at him after a couple of seconds, just like movie villains do at moments like these. But it didn't happen.

"Anyway, thank you for your time," the Baron said, "You should get back to work."

Clint nodded: "Yes, I do."

"Goodnight." The Baron saluted, turned around on his heels and walked away, leaving Clint behind. Clint had no other choice than to return to his office. If he turned around and headed for his car again, Von Strucker would notice. While Clint walked, it felt like Loki's scepter was gaining weight with every step it took. Somehow, that thing seemed to tell him that he made a bad choice when he decided to go back.

By the time he opened the door of his office again, it felt like his heart was working overtime. To his immense relief, everything seemed to be fine in there. The programmer was still sleeping and Pietro was bouncing around in his cell again. Wanda looked up when she heard him, but her face didn't show any sign of surprise. Maybe she already knew that he would return.

"Dham it," Clint cursed silently and he punched the wall in frustration. He had to figure out a new plan, and fast. If Wanda had told him the truth earlier, his time was running out. Clint looked around the room, desperately trying to find a way out, when he suddenly noticed something peculiar.

On his desk stood an undamaged laptop.

In order to make sure he wasn't dreaming, Clint blinked a couple of times. But when he looked again, the laptop was still there. Unwittingly, he shifted his gaze towards the programmers desk. The man's laptop was there as wall, it didn't have a scratch.

"This can't be real," Clint whispered to himself. For a split second, he believed that the influence of being so close to Loki's scepter made him go insane. But somehow, it felt like this was another kind of magic.

How all of this happened, would possible remain a mystery forever, but Clint figured it didn't matter at all. He would never get a second chance like this, so he had to take it and needed to act quickly. He decided that getting out with the scepter in his possession would not work out so well. So he shifted to plan B: hide it. Years of experience taught Clint that people tend to look for things everywhere, besides right under their noses. So that's where he'd hide the scepter – right here. Careful not to wake the programmer, Clint went to work. After he secured the scepters hiding place, Clint felt quite pleased with himself. He turned to Wanda, and to his surprise, she wasn't paying attention to him. She didn't even seem to be interested in him. Clint figured it was probably an act, to make her seem less suspicious. Just when he wanted to tell the twins goodbye once more, a loud bang suddenly echoed through the room, because the sleeping programmer had tumbled of his chair. The man was still drowsy, but when he looked at Clint, he clearly seemed taken aback.

"Boss! I am so sorry, I must have fallen asleep. All those hours behind that laptop… Can I take a break?" he demanded in bewilderment. While attempting to keep his heartbeat under control, Clint raised an eyebrow at the programmer and snarled: "No you can't, you've been doing nothing all day. Get back to work."

"That's not true, look," the programmer turned his laptop towards Clint and showed him a set of codes. Codes he couldn't have possible written in the short time that Clint was away. Clint started to believe that he really had become crazy. This wasn't possible. The past had somehow changed, but no one could do that. No one. Except.

Clint turned around to look at Wanda again, who was still not impressed by everything that was happening around her. But he almost swore that he saw her nod. Almost. Clint slowly started to panic because of that.

"Something wrong boss?" the programmer asked. Clint shook his head: "No, I, I got to … I need something in my car. I'll be right back."

The programmer yawned: "Alright, can I take a break while you're away?"

"Sure, but when I am back, you get your ass back to work."

"Thanks!"

Once again, Clint headed for the corridor. This time, he had a hard time trying not to run for it. While he walked back to his car, Clint couldn't think about anything else than what just happened. Time had changed, there was no doubt about that. But things like that only happened in fairytales, there was no doubt about that either.

"Going somewhere?" a familiar voice asked. Clint halted and looked around. Von Strucker was once again waiting for him at the garage door, just like he had been half an hour ago.

"This is insane," Clint thought by himself, "This is not happening."

"No, sir, just…" for the first time in many months, Clint didn't know what to say.

When the Baron ignored Clint and told him that he wanted to talk about something, Clint had a major feeling of déjà vu. It felt like their previous conversation had never happened. The Baron apparently didn't remember anything of it, but how – Clint wondered – was it possible that hé still did?

The rest of their conversation went almost the exact same way as before as well. Once again, Clint took the picture of the black man from the Baron and once again, he told Von Strucker he didn't know who that photographed person was. When the Baron opened his mouth to tell Clint that he had to get back to work, Clint decided that he'd had enough.

"Dham you, Wanda," he cried out before he pulled the gun from underneath his shirt and pointed it at the Baron, who clearly had no idea what he was talking about. _"They will find out soon,"_ Wanda's voice kept saying inside Clint's head. But how soon was soon at that moment? Clint didn't have a clue, all he knew was that the entire situation was more messed up. So he decided not to wait for 'soon' anymore.

Clint shot once, without blinking. The bullet hit the Baron straight between the eyes. Before the man hit the ground, Clint turned around and sprinted towards his car. He jumped in, started the engine and speeded away as fast as possible. The car made a terribly loud noise. "So far for the silent get away," Clint told himself.

The moment he drove through the gates, the windscreen of his car shattered to a thousand pieces: they were shooting at him. Clint laid eyes on his attackers, and took them out with 5 shots – one for each of them. He drove away, hitting the gas pedal real hard. In the distance, he could hear the roaring of motorcycles. They were on to him.

Clint figured he had only one option left – do what Fury always did in this kind of situation. With one jolt to the steering wheel, Clint steered his car sideways. It hit the guardrail at the side of the road and went upside down. Clint braced himself and for a moment, he felt weightless as the car tumbled down the hill, toward an ice cold river.

**So, this was my first try at a more 'eventfull'chapter. I hope you liked it and that it wasn't boring. Please let me know if you like the story so far! Should I continue? What's bad about it? I accept criticism, as long as it isn't harsh or offensive.**

**Anyway ... Thanks for reading!**

**Love you all for following the story!**

**xxx Ellyn**


	6. Not helping!

Natasha was walking around in circles. Someone who didn't know her, would say she looked quite relaxed, but someone who did knew that this meant she was worrying sick.

"Everything will be fine, Natasha, please sit down and relax," Bruce called to her from the sofa, but Natasha wasn't listening.

"Not helping," Tony told Bruce, who sat next to him. Both of them were studying blueprints of all kinds of Iron Man suits.

"Maybe he was confused and gave you the wrong number," Steve put forward, as he looked up from the novel he was reading - but Natasha did not respond to him either.

"Not helping," Tony repeated.

"Maybe someone should head to the land of Russia in order to look for your friend," Thor politely offered. Both Steve and Bruce looked at him and shook their heads. That was not going to happen anyway. As worried as Natasha was, she was not going to take such a risk. Clint could get exposed.

"Thank you for your kind offer," Natasha gently told Thor, "but that is not an option, I am afraid. Imagine how HYDRA would react if an Avenger would show up at their doorstep."

"Actually, Clint is an Avenger too. Don't you think it is curious that no one recognized him?" Bruce remarked suddenly. It was Tony who gave an answer: "Nah, SHIELD and it's security stuff, it's pretty decent They made sure no footage of Barton of Romanoff was broadcasted and they took every amateur movie of them of youtube within an hour after the battle. They would not recognize him."

Steve raised an eyebrow at Tony: "But Natasha put every SHIELD file on the internet. And you were able to get to such information before she even did that. The possibility that they looked at those files and found out about Clint is really high."

"Yeah," Tony paused for a moment, "But I am Tony Stark. I am worth ten HYDRA's – they can't hack into SHIELD. They are too stupid for that. And probably, too stupid to use the internet properly too." Tony shot a meaningful look in Steve's direction and gestured that he should drop the case.

"But didn't the Captain explain that SHIELD was already infiltrated? They should have been able to access information on every SHIELD agent, don't you think?" Bruce said, as he had nod noticed Tony's attempt to change the subject. Tony palmfaced when he heard something snap in the distance. Natasha had broken the pencil she was playing around with, which indicated that she was losing it.

"What?" Bruce asked innocently as he saw Tony's face. "Not helping at all," Tony snapped. He turned around and looked at Natasha over the back of his seat.

"I know that you aren't stupid, Natasha. You probably figured everything out long before any of us did. You have to admit that we have a point. I don't want to be the break bad news to you, but the possibility of…" Tony's voice trailed off when he saw a tear blinking in the corner of Natasha's eye. It was so un-Natashalike that Tony did not dare to say anything else. He stood up and walked over to Natasha and pulled her into a hug. He expected to be judo-flipped, but to his surprise, Natasha didn't resist.

"You know what - we'll find him. I asked JARVIS to check every street camera in Kazakhstan, maybe he'll discover something. And he will also notice when strange news that might be about Clint would hit the internet. Let's just not declare your partner death before we know for sure, shall we? There is still hope," he whispered to her. Natasha pushed him away and nodded. Her face was pale, but she wasn't crying. "Thank you", she croaked as she struggled to pull herself together.

"JARVIS," Tony raised his voice.

"Yes, sir?"

"You did not find anything at all yet?"

"I am afraid not, sir. Otherwise, I would have reported to you immediately."

"Of course. Thank you anyway."

"You're welcome."

"I think I am going to train a little, downstairs. Keep my mind of things," Steve suddenly remarked as he got up from the sofa, "Does anyone want to join me?"

"No, thank you Cap, I'm good," Bruce pointed at the paperwork on his lap. Tony shook his head: "I'll be staying with the doc. Those new suits and armor will not build themselves, will they?"

"Fine," Steve looked at Thor and Natasha. "I'll join you," Thor said, "Maybe we can learn from each other. Lady Natasha, do you want to join us as well. It'll be a good way to clear your mind while we wait for news."

Natasha slowly nodded: "You are right. Fine, I'll come with you." The three of them greeted Bruce and Tony and left.

Steve lost track of time. He, Thor and Natasha had been in the gym for almost 4 hours. Thor had demonstrated some Asgardian fighting techniques that Steve had found very interesting, and Steve showed Thor several new ways to defend himself. Natasha hadn't been interested in what they were doing by the tinniest bit, and had been hitting a punching bag the entire afternoon. Both Thor and Steve decided to leave her alone, as she clearly wasn't in the mood for a talk.

It was only because the AI spoke to them, that Steve realized how much time has passed.

"Excuse me to interrupt you, but Mr. Stark requests your presence in the dining room."

Steve looked up at the clock and was surprised to find out that it was already time for diner.

"Of course, tell him we'll be there in a minute. I am going to change clothes first," Steve told the AI, and Thor added that he would do the same. Natasha, on the other hand, did not react, but kept punching the bag.

"Mr. Stark told me this was urgent," JARVIS explained. When she heard the word 'urgent', Natasha suddenly stopped boxing.

"Is this about dinner getting cold of something else?" she demanded.

"I believe this is about something else, Ms. Romanoff. Mr. Stark insisted that you'd come as fast as you could, but he also ordered me not to tell you why."

Those words had an enormous effect on the Widow. Without untying her boxing gloves, she left the room and headed upstairs, with Steve and Thor on her heels.

"Do you think…?" Steve looked at Thor.

"If there is news, I hope it will be good news," was all the Asgardian said.

By the time that the two of them reached the dining room, Natasha was already there. She stood in front of Tony, her hands on her hips and rapidly tapping her right foot. She was clearly irritated, perhaps because she believed that it took Steve and Thor too long before they arrived upstairs.

"What did you find?" Steve asked curiously as he sat down, trying to avoid Natasha's angry gaze. Thor sat down beside him.

"Well," Tony's voice sounded a bit strange. Apparently, he wasn't so keen on telling Natasha what he found out. "While Bruce and I were taking a break earlier, I suddenly came up with an idea. We called the police station of the town where Clint was staying," he continued.

"You did what?" Natasha asked, shocked.

"Hey, don't get your panties in a twist! They don't know who called and we asked them – very calm and without being suspicious – if anything weird happened lately," Tony told her.

"Not being suspicious and being calm are not your strongest suits," Steve remarked.

"Bruce called," Tony said quickly, eying at Banner. The latter nodded: "You don't have to worry. They were very gentle and did not sound distrustful."

"What did they tell you?" Natasha urged.

"It's not much, but it's a start. Apparently, HYDRA sent a lot of people away from their facility over the course of 2 days. The police officer found that really strange, as he rarely saw any movement around the building, at least not during the day. They left at daytime," Bruce said.

"Why would they leave?" Thor asked at the same time Steve said: "How were you able to get that information?"

"To answer your question, Cap: you don't want to know, as it would go against your morals. And to answer the more important question from Thor: we don't know," Tony said bitterly.

"It means something happened, at the very least," Bruce added, "I told you it wasn't much of a lead, but it's something. Maybe Clint had to leave with them? And maybe he ditched his phone because of that?"

Natasha looked rather doubtful, but did not say a thing. The other couldn't really tell if she looked relieved or terrified. Her face was blank.

"Well, I suggest we have to look into this a little more," Steve suggested.

"After dinner," Thor added, "I am starving and I can't think with an empty stomach."

"Likewise," Tony agreed, "While we eat, JARVIS can take a closer look at that. Maybe he can find out where those HYDRA men are heading."

"I will, sir," the AI responded.

"Splendid," Tony smiled and he walked towards the bar. He took a bottle of whisky and raised it in the air: "Who wants some?"

"That is not dinner, Tony," Bruce told him as he snatched the bottle out of his hand. Tony was about to protest, when a distraught Pepper entered the room. She was clutching a Stark phone. Before she could say something, Natasha grabbed the phone and put it against her ear.

"Hello?"

Tony narrowed his eyes and looked at Pepper. "It can't be?" he mouthed at her, but she nodded.

"JARVIS, put Lady Romanoffs phone on speaker, please," he commanded.

The AI did as he was told, and suddenly, the weak voice of Clint Barton filled the dining room. The man was just finishing a sentence: "…. Don't have much time."

"Barton, just for your information, you're on speaker now. Oh, and you're a dick – you have no idea of the problems you caused me. We almost hacked every security system in the world in order to find you," Tony said. It was silent for a while, before Clint spoke again. He sounded as if it took him a lot of effort to speak: "I am sorry to bother you Stark, but they have bad reception on the bottom of a canal, so I couldn't make a call."

Pepper put her hand in front of her mouth and shot a worried, but angry look at Tony, who decided to speak no more.

"Where are you now?" Natasha asked urgently.

"Still around. I can't give you further information, it's already a huge risk being out here. I'm using a pay-phone right now, that's safer than using the phone of the place I am hiding."

"Why didn't you come home?" Steve asked.

"I can't get very far. As far as I know, HYDRA believes I am dead, so they won't be looking for me yet. But it doesn't matter. Can you still come here?"

"Of course, we already agreed about that," Natasha told Clint, "We'll leave as soon as we can. How will we find you?"

Tony interrupted: "No need to tell, JARVIS will be able to track his location as soon as we're in town."

"That's a relief," Clint sighed on the other side of the line, "Just, don't make a scene when you arrive."

"We'll make sure he won't," Natasha assured him, looking at Stark.

"Make it quick, Tash, there is not much time left," Clint groaned.

"I know." After she said that, the line died. Natasha grabbed Tony by the arm: "How long before your yet can leave?"

"An hour, maybe two," Tony replied confounded.

"Make a call to your pilot. We are leaving right now," Natasha ordered and she pushed the Stark phone in Tony's hands.

"Suit up," she told the others, before she turned around, in order to leave.

"Oh, wait, wait, wait,' Bruce called to her back, "Can you explain to me what Clint just told you? Because you seem to have understood more of that conversation than I did."

"And I," Thor added.

"We need to leave, and take all medical equipment we have. Apparently, Clint was chased down by HYDRA soldiers. He must have been shot or badly hurt, or so I deduce from the sound of his voice. And because he said that we do not have much time, I assume that the twins are soon leaving Kazakhstan, if they didn't leave already. If we want to succeed in our mission and keep Clint alive, we can't lose another second," Natasha clarified, before she left.

"Is she a telepath, because I did not hear the Hawk say any of that on the phone?" Thor looked at the others.

"No, she isn't Thor. I think she is something very different to Clint," Steve told the Asgardian wisely, "A partnership like theirs does not need much explanation, they seem to understand each other without much words."

Thor looked rather confused: "You mean it's because they are spies?"

"Nah," Tony said, "Those two have a thing. I just haven't decided if I should call it friendship, trust, love, or something even stronger than that."

**This was a long chapter this time :-O At least, for me it was . I hope you liked it. Thank you for the review, kristelalugo, and thank you to everyone who is following the story! **

**Have a nice day!**

**Ellyn**


	7. Highway to hell

The journey to Kazakhstan had been a bumpy one. As Natasha had wanted, they almost left immediately after Clint made that call. Tony had to move heaven and earth to arrange a flight in such a short period, but they managed to leave after only 45 minutes. Steve had been impressed by Tony's ability to pack things as fast as he'd done, but the soldier had the feeling that Tony had a lot of experience with quick getaways. Tony had described himself as a playboy on numerous occasions, so Steve figured he must have left a lot of girls behind in their hotel rooms at morning.

"Did you really have to bring all of those suits with you," Natasha wondered aloud as she watched Tony struggle to load some prototypes of his newest suits in the jeep they brought along. They just landed at a private airport that was located 53 miles north of the town where Clint was hiding, so they couldn't make their journey on foot. It would not only take them too long, the probability of getting noticed would also be a lot higher then when they were travelling by car.

"I don't know if they all work properly yet, so yes, I brought them all," Tony puffed as he put yet another case with a suit in the trunk of the car. Luckily, those cases were rather small, but Bruce was nevertheless looking a bit worried.

"I don't think everything will fit in there. Remember that we all have to get in the car as well," he remarked slowly, while pointing at the others.

"Don't worry, Dr. Banner," a voice coming from the car told Bruce, "I made some calculations, and according to those, everything will fit in the car just fine."

"JARVIS?" Steve turned to Tony, "You have installed your AI in your car? Impressive."

"Thanks for the compliment, Cap," Tony said, "Always handy to have some extra brains around. And he is the one who'll help us find Legolas."

"If you don't hurry up with your luggage, we'll never find Clint," Natasha snapped. "Give me your car keys, I'll drive," she added commandingly. Tony looked at her in disbelief: "You are not driving my car."

"I am, we took a vote," Natasha replied.

"My apologies, but as far as I remember, we didn't," Thor remarked.

"I took a vote with JARVIS," Natasha explained, "He said that I should drive, as you cannot drive a car, Steve drives to slow, Tony never listens when someone gives him instructions or tells him where to go and Bruce didn't want to drive – I asked him. So I'll drive."

Tony looked from Natasha to the car and back: "Just because your partner isn't here, doesn't mean you can get cozy with mine. JARVIS, I am disappointed in you."

"No offense, sir, but miss Romanoff also has much more experience in driving around without being – how should I put it – 'noticed'. And that will be a necessary skill, certainly if you don't want anyone to find out you're looking for something in the streets of a HYDRA-controlled village."

"Point taken, but still, you disappoint me," Tony shrugged and threw the car keys at Natasha. "I guess I don't have a choice? But don't think you are commanding me now."

Natasha pursed her lips: "Fine. Guys, get in the car. I am getting cold. Tony, hurry up will you. Did you bring the medical equipment?"

"Yes, madam," Tony snarled.

"Good," Natasha nodded and she turned towards Steve, "Cap, you can take the front seat. I need you to keep an eye on the road for me."

"I can do that as well," Tony remarked. Natasha frowned: "Maybe, but Steve is less easily distracted than you, Thor or Bruce."

"Fine, fine, stop picking on me already," Tony waved his hand in surrender and directed Thor and Bruce: "Come on big guys, you have the honor of sitting next to me in the back, while Cap and the red headed dictator can be their boring selves in the front." Tony shot one last, angry look at Natasha before he got in the car. The Widow only smirked and got in as well.

* * *

Tony had to give Natasha credit, as she knew how to drive a car. Although he'd never say it out loud, he would consider taking driving lessons with her – just to be as good as she was. She had been soaring over the highway at incredible speed, but it did not even seem to bother the captain. Her finesse was unparalleled.

"How long before we reach the town?" Steve asked JARVIS.

"We should arrive in 15 minutes sir," the AI answered.

"Great," Steve murmured and he turned around to look at Tony, Thor and Bruce. "Maybe we should split up and look for Barton in groups. Tony could go with Thor and Bruce can go with me and Natasha – that way, our powers will be equally divided over both teams."

Thor nodded. For once, he was dressed in regular clothes. The others decided that he would draw to much attention in his armor. For the same reason, Natasha and Steve were dressed as civilians and Tony was prohibited to use one of his suits unless it would be necessary.

"No," Natasha said firmly. Four pairs of eyes looked in her direction. "What?" Tony said.

"No, we won't split up. JARVIS will be able to locate Clint and we'll go together. We have to stay close to each other," Natasha stated.

"Why are you so concerned?" Bruce asked quietly, but he looked like he already knew.

"You want me to be honest?" Natasha asked, her eyes still fixed on the road.

"Yes, for once, please," Tony said.

"Because, believe me or not, I don't want to lose another one of you. It's bad enough that we have to save Clint's ass. I don't have time to come looking for you guys as well. This place is nothing like you've ever been to before. People are not nice here, don't give you mercy. They try to survive and protect themselves. And in their case, it means selling every bit of information they have to HYDRA. So I think it's not wise to go out there alone. I've lived in a place like this, so believe me – I am telling the truth."

Silence fell in the car as the Widows words dawned on the others. All of them realized that Natasha just spoke of her past, and although she revealed nothing special, it felt like she was reaching out for them. It was Bruce who finally broke the ongoing silence: "I guess we'll stick together then. JARVIS, do you already have a sign of Clint?"

The AI wasn't enthusiast when he answered the doctor's question: "Nothing yet, sir."

"That's not abnormal," Tony pointed out, "We have to reach town before JARVIS will be able to track Clint. I programmed him so he would look out for people with the same build as Barton – JARVIS has access to satellites and-"

"Fine, enough info, we get it. Don't need you to explain your technological mumbo-jumbo," Natasha interrupted. Tony opened his mouth to tell her of, but Bruce put his hand on his shoulder.

"What?" Tony hissed.

"Leave it," Bruce whispered, "Please."

Thor looked from the one guy to the other and asked, as quietly as he could: "Can't you humans just get along for one minute?" Bruce palm faced when Tony leaned forward to give Thor a lecture, but before that could even happen, Steve demanded them to stop.

"Please, just save it for later. Maybe you should want to see this," the captain said. Tony turned his head away from Thor and fixed his eyes on the road. His jaw dropped. In the distance, he could see a town, but there was a slight problem with it.

"Is that a large bonfire?" Thor asked.

"No, big guy, I am afraid it isn't," was Bruce's reply.

"So what is it?" the Asgardian demanded.

"Trouble," Steve sighed, "Big trouble."

**Hey everyone,**

**Here I am again, and no I am not on hiatus as some of you might have tbelieved. I am SO SORRY for not updating in a while. School demanded all of my attention lately, with a lot of tasks going on, so that was priority. I'll keep writing though, and I hope to update more in the future - but I can't make any promises as I still have a very busy schedule. **

**So about the chapter. I know it's short and I know it might be full of mistakes (I have read it over a couple of times, but not as many times as I normally do), but I wanted to post it as soon as it was finished - because I haven't posted in decades. I hope you like it anyways...**

**Oh I also really want to thank every follower or person who has reviewed. You guys are SO NICE to me, really! I love you all for that ;-) I am glad that some of you pointed out that I captured the characters well, as I try to stick to their personalities from the movies. If I don't, or if you think one of them is too much out of character, please tell me! Someone also asked me if Loki or Bucky will show up - and the answer is probably yes. Loki will come up sooner or later, as his scepter is involved and more important - Thor still believes he died. and I believe the guy deserves to know the truth. Bucky might find his way into the story as well, but I don't know when that will happen. Right now, everything will center around the original 6 members, the twins and Fury. Another thing - those who are concerned about Clint - he's not dead yet. As for the change of time thing in the story (someone wondered about it in the comments) - it will all be explained. I am not planning on leaving loose ends in the story. If I do, you must tell me (because I forget some plot points sometimes).**

**Anyways, thanks again for being the nicest readers in the world!**

**xoxo**

**Ellyn**


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